Naren - the state of being

Remembering Naren - That state of being  

When I would get up at five, I would see him on the table with his reading glasses on, typing a note on the old typewriter. It would be a response on MS Swaminathan's recommendation for farmers. Or a note to the Human Rights commission about some dalit atrocity in the district. He would usually leave by the first village bus on the painstaking work of documenting village by village all the lands that needed to be redistributed to the poor - bhoodan lands, ceiling surplus lands. Or on Mondays to sit with the Joint Collector reviewing all these. Or on the land with the people plowing and claiming the lands. He would be back home by the last village bus at 9:30 pm. Uma would be left handling all the farmwork at home, all the processing of the produce. Midnight he would get a call sometimes regarding some SC violation and leave, taking the green towel.

And whenever anyone needed his time - an old uncle wanting his feet massaged, Allakavva in Dalitwada needing a kind word and medicines, a lady sufferring from Parkinsons needing her weekly supply of medicines, the dhobi waiting for him when he returned home at 10 p.m. to ask for mangoes in mango season - each was given the time and complete attention with the same unruffled smile. As if only they and their need mattered at that moment.

He left at the age of 55. In 2009.


Biswajit Dasgupta Amazing....

Aparna KrishnanYes. But he carried himself so lightly, took himself so casually, that we never realised what it had meant to spend 10-15 years with him.

Biswajit Dasgupta I think that makes it all the more amazing. That one life can be so many lessons....

Narayana Sarma Simple in both thought and deed.

The night chats in Naren's home, 20 years ago. When various learnings and sharings happened in the quietest ways. And in quiet ways one changed without even realizing.

The clearest memories are Naren coming home by the night bus at 10pm., after having left at 5:30am by the first bus on a padyatra of the villages for documenting temple lands, bhoodan lands and other lands available for redistribution to the poor. Day after day after day regardless of the sun, across the district. And at 10 at night, just as he retuned home, the washerman would walk in to ask for mangoes, and without a change in the smile, or a break in the step, he would go up, collect the best mangoes just harvested, and give it to him. And then go in to wash up and eat. Uma would be patiently waiting.

When I first moved to the village I moved in to live with Uma and Naren. Then Nagesh came searching for a village to live and work in as I had earlier. When we got married we moved to the harijanwada hamlet a km away.

Narayana

also came looking for a village in the same way. Many things fell in place.

... Old women from Dalitwada used to come to Naren and say 'Nuvvu devudu' ('You are God.')

For that, they used to get a gentle knock on their heads, and that unforgettable, unforgiveable laugh, wound ring out - the laugh of a person who has totally dismissed himself from his own mind.

In the middle of his endless works across the district from identifying ceiling surplus lands for distribution, to occupying lands claimed by the poor, to attending SC atrocities under the HRF, to poring over various recommendations on farmer's issues at 4 in the morning with his reading glasses on- he used to have time to attend to the illness of every old man and woman in the next hamlet Dalitwada, and sit and press their feet, and make sure he bought the medicines they needed.

I have never seen a frown on that much beloved face. He passed away when he was 55.

...As he came tired out, there would usually be some village peole waiting for him. An old lady asking for some medicines, an uncle wanting his BP taken, another grand uncle sending word that he wanted Naren to come and press his feet before he slept. Without that smile leaving is face, and without a crease on that uncreased forehead he would attend to all these, before coming for dinner.

One day when he came particularly late there was this old lady waiting for mangoes. He took a cover and went up to where the mangoes were spread out to ge given to all who came and asked. He picked out the best and gave her the cover with a gentle pat on her head.

Simple acts ... but it brought to us who watched this day after day, a little more kindness, and a little more gentleness, and a little more consideration maybe.

...   Harmony of thought, word and deed. Harmony of the public and the private. Harmony of the personal and the political.

When I was looking for a village to settle down, I first went to this place XXX where friends were based. There was a drink party that night, because from the next day 'prohibition would be imposed, and there could be no parties'. This was an NGO that had participated in the anti liquor movement.

I left the very next day, for my next stop - Naren and Uma, Paalaguttapalle. Naren had been intrinsic to the entire movement with the people of the village, and the district. Broken liquor stills. And personal temperance was built into the public position. And that was my final stop ... and its 20 years today.  

Aparna Krishnan

1 hr · 

The Dalitwada youth have made put up a poster with Ambedkar and Naren in the village !!

The two people they consider their ablest supporters.

Just saw a Whatsup message from one of the youth.

If Naren was there he would never have allowed this poster, so now ...

All the village gentlemen have also made sure that they are in the poster !

"When paying tributes posthumously, it is common to describe a person as ‘extraordinary’. But in the true sense of the word, there are only a few extraordinary people in the world. Gorrepati Narendranath was one of them. " - Balagopal

http://paalaguttapalle.blogspot.in/…/naren-by-balagopal.html

To demand the highest standards for oneself - in work, in social activism, in personal integrity and ethics. And to stay completely non judgemental and loving towards the rest of the world.

And then what remains with everyone is the fragrance of how a life can be lived, and also a bar that is raised for all. I do not think one can strive for more.

Uma Shankari in an insert to his book adds Naren not only loved mangoes, he distributed them with great love and zeal. They were “harvested at the right time, ripened properly and tasted better that market mangoes”. Naren sent them to an old Uncle, to a doctor who helped the family at Vellore, to poor people who had no mango trees of their own like the barber, the washer man, potters, and carpenters. Officials at the revenue department, the electricity department also received his mangoes. A Telugu poet called him mango Naren.

For Naren mangoes were not just fruit but messages of friendship, hospitality, his vision of the commons. Yet Naren’s love was always practical. Naren was not like Charlie Brown, the Charles Schulz character who claimed that “he loved humanity, but it is people he did not like”. Naren loved people practically sending them mangoes and massaging tired old feet.""

asftiitSpmAegugusot endson2ia7,cr 20e15ds  · 

Shared with Public

Long ago story.

When Rajni Bakshi asked Naren seeing his 24x7 day work between farm work and land issues and dalit issue and swadeshi concerns and farmer issues, "Dont you ever feel the need of a vacation", he replied with the unforgettable laugh "But I'm always on a vacation". Such people have helped me grow.